Seattle’s Missing $5,500: A Treasurer, a Fire, and a Quiet Committee Settlement
Ex-City Treasurer W. L. Ames’s accounts were short. His bondsmen admitted it and the finance committee looked for a settlement—no prosecution, just a deal.
There is a good prospect that the $5,500 shortage of ex-City Treasurer W. L. Ames will be settled without trouble. The finance committee of the city council yesterday conferred with E. G. Ames, who appeared as Ames' representative. The shortage was admitted, and the bondsmen are willing to settle on that basis. One or two points remain to be settled, as there are slight differences of opinion concerning them. The committee adjourned to meet on some day next week for a definite settlement.
W. L. Ames was city treasurer in 1888 and in 1889. In the great fire of June, 1889, most of the papers of the city treasurer were destroyed by the fire, and this fact has made a settlement of the affairs of his office rather difficult.
“The shortage was admitted, and the bondsmen are willing to settle on that basis.”
A city treasurer’s missing $5,500—well over $150,000 in today’s money—was treated as a matter for a quiet committee settlement rather than a criminal prosecution. The story rhymes with modern debates over public audits, official accountability, and whether municipal money is ever really “settled” out of court.
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